Art Picks From Print

A roundup of recently opened, yet current and long-running exhibitions as briefly recommended in print editions of our fine magazine. Add a few of these to your list of things to do before summer ends.

Shows sooner to close appear first.

LYRICAL COLORPocket Utopia, 191 Henry St., through August 24thChromatic range and resonance rule the room in this display of now color-coded, now color-generative compositions. The exhibit features sculptures and an array of mixed media 2D works by Rico Gatson, Dan Steinhilber, Jane Kent, Brece Honeycutt, Meg Lipke, Maggie Michael, David Storey and Hildur Asgeirsdottir Jonsson, as well as a keystone painting of marble-veiny, bright sherbet-like swirls on interlocked panels by Color Field and Lyrical Abstraction artist Sam Gilliam. Baudelairean cloud gazing might well play a role in all this, too.

THE PICTURE SHOWBrooklyn Heights Cinema, 70 Henry St., through August 24thAre you a fetishistic enthusiast of all things cinematic, a true cineaste par excellence? If so, then you will likely feel very much at home at The Picture Show. This mixed-media, deep-rostered group exhibition, curated by Claudia Eve Beauchesne, draws inspiration not merely from the practical realities of its very spatial environs—Brooklyn Heights Cinema, a lovely and beloved yet soon-to-be demolished movie theater—but also from historical precedents. In the curator’s words, The Picture Show is a celebration of “filmmaking, the moviegoing experience, and the enduring influence of cinema on artists.” If film is the source of your buffery, this show’s for you. Go see it before the theater itself has its curtains drawn.

BEYOND THE BEDROOMNorte Maar, 83 Wyckoff Ave., #1B, through late AugustMany visitors to this landmark Bushwick apartment gallery are familiar with Jason Andrew’s private collection of artwork because it adorns walls just steps away from those adorned by curated exhibitions. Now, however, for a truly sweet treat of a summer group show, Andrew has decided to turn things a bit inside-out by filling out all of Norte Maar’s walls with works by over two dozen artists in his holdings, from younger darlings of the local art scene to more mature members, let us say, of the broader art world establishment. Expect an exceptional display of various styles and fine taste, and expect more than a few surprises as well. This show is by appointment only, so contact the gallery and book your date now.

THE SKIN WE’RE INYossi Milo Gallery, 245 Tenth Ave., through August 31stDrawing inspiration from an essay by Oliver Wendell Holmes and referencing artworks from the technologically quite distant, as it were, 20th century, this group exhibition is geared towards creatively shifting the gears of today’s Internet-driven image ubiquity, from Lindsay Lawson’s performatively layered, internally mimetic video work to Mark Tribe’s fine-photography extrapolations from the realm of video games. The roster also includes David Golde, Stephen Prina, Jon Rafman, Joao Enxuto and Erica Love.

BEER HERE: BREWING NEW YORK’S HISTORYThe New York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West at 77th St., through September 2ndEveryone in the city who loves beer and knows a thing or two about it is aware that today’s beloved—and oh, oh really, oh how dearly beloved—craft brews and seasonally curated taps are but the most recent manifestations of this fair town’s love affair with ales, porters, lagers and the like. Yet it’s more than an affair of the heart in the form of the liver. It’s one that has had lasting and deep reaching socio-economic, technological and political ramifications as well. Wait, maybe that is just like affairs of the heart and liver. Anyway, this show will teach us all a beery thing or two. Cheers!

SCHIAPARELLI AND PRADA: IMPOSSIBLE CONVERSATIONSMetropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Ave., through September 3Exhibitions at the Met’s Costume Institute have been particularly stunning, long-line-forming affairs in recent years, and this summer’s now dreamy, now dreamed-up showcase is certainly no different. Drawing a number of thematic parallels between Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada, Italian fashion icons from quite different eras, the show imagines how these women might have conversed with one another, how their designs explore similar terrains. Organized according to themes—Waist Up/Waist Down, Ugly Chic, Hard Chic, Naif Chic, The Classical Body, The Exotic Body and The Surreal Body—their multimedia dialogue is titillatingly sure to engage. Properly all’italiana, one could say.

BIANCA CASADY: DAISY CHAINCheim & Read, 547 West 25th St., through September 8thYou’ve heard of the sister-duo indie group Cocorosie, no? Did you know that one of those sisters, Bianca Casady, can boast of quite a career as a visual artist, too? Well, her current solo exhibition of installations, drawings, collages, photographs and video works at Cheim & Read should provide ample testimony. The show is fairytale folksy and gravely weightless; a commingling of fancies and fears, mirths and tears; delicately gritty, ethereal. Not unlike so many Cocorosie songs, all told. And if you’ve ever wondered who does their album art, now you know that, too.

RENAISSANCE VENICE: DRAWINGS FROM THE MORGANThe Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Ave. at 36th St., through September 23rdCulling nearly four score artworks and related items—from drawings and sketches to maps, books and letters—this choice exhibition aims to portray Venice’s 16th-century Golden Age through formally representational as well as religious, literary and political lenses. Should that not suffice to entice, a few of the names on the roster might: Bordone, Carpaccio, Lotto, Tintoretto, Tiziano. A nice complement to the show of north Italian paintings at The Met, to wit.

GHOSTS IN THE MACHINEThe New Museum, 235 Bowery, through September 30thThis three-story show, spanning half a century of artworks and objects, traces our relationship with machines and other sorts of meta-humanoid forms, from hardware to virtual realities to the cloud, all under variably aesthetic aegises. Expect dystopic sculptures, automated video works, resuscitated analog, Op Art, and a series of eight site-specific performances by Kraftwerk in the museum’s atrium. Or, wait, no. Definitely expect abundant technological anachronisms and cinematic references, intended or not. (Read Will Brand’s full review here.)

QUAY BROTHERS: ON DECIPHERING THE PHARMACIST’S PRESCRIPTION FOR LIP-READING PUPPETSMoMA, 11 West 53rd St., through January 7thThis exhibition of a wide range of multi-media works by the Quay Brothers will be enlightening for fans and non-fans, or not-yet fans, alike, for the extent of their production embraces more than merely narrative films. Prepare to see their interventions in spheres such as dance, opera, drama and concert performances. And prepare to be at least slightly, albeit pleasurably, overwhelmed. The exhibition will be accompanied by a film retrospective, naturally.